With Valve Software pushing towards a future in which it is at the center of our big screen gaming experience in the living room using a system that is entirely powered by the Linux operating system, it should come as no big surprise that the company has joined The Linux Foundation this week. The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of the titular open-sourced operating system.

Valve Software's Mike Sartain says that joining the foundation is just one of the ways that it is putting a spotlight on the operating system.

"Joining the Linux Foundation is one of many ways Valve is investing in the advancement of Linux gaming," he said.

Ever since the launch of Windows 8, Valve has been pushing Linux as the future of gaming. After adding support for Linux gaming in its Steam client, the company revealed new hardware (Steam Machine) and an operating system called Steam OS that is being built using Linux as its core.

Ultimately Valve hopes to help the OS become a little more mainstream.

"Through these efforts, we hope to contribute tools for developers building new experiences on Linux, compel hardware manufacturers to prioritize support for Linux, and ultimately deliver an elegant and open platform for Linux users," says Sartain.

He is THE visionary of our time. Though his idealist uncompromising attitude rackles even his colleges who are willing to work with not-completely-free stuff like Flash and BSD.

Anyway, chances are Valve will mainly be pushing for wider openGL adoption and more Linux development cooperation from Nvidia and Radeon, which is no bad thing. Although rms would probably prefer more focus on his HURD instead.

Of course the steam client and their new SteamOS will still be loaded with non-free components.